51 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 C. Zintgraff et al. (eds.), STEM in the Technopolis: The Power of STEM Education in Regional Technology Policy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39851-4_3 Chapter 3 The Education Philosophy, Theories and Models That Enable STEM Policy Integration Anthony J. Petrosino, Maximilian K. Sherard, and Sneha A. Tharayil Abstract As federal and state policies continue to emphasize the need for STEM Education reform, it is important to understand how a collaboration between indus- try, academia, governments, nonprofts, and K-12 schools, can bolster this effort. However, any worthwhile attempts at this must arguably frst be steeped in an understanding of the STEM Education movement as well as the deep lineage of learning theories which underscore what has now come to be understood as evidence-based best practices in bolstering STEM teaching and learning. As such, the ensuing chapter recounts a brief history of the STEM Education movement, discussing the impact of pivotal documents, such as A Nation at Risk, which fanned the fames of education reform. It then presents the various perspectives as to what “STEM Education” means, focusing on the separated perspective versus the inte- grated perspective. This is followed by a synopsis of major learning theories and paradigms, such as behaviorism, constructivism, social constructivism, and con- structionism, which have informed and continue to underscore education research. Finally, the chapter concludes with a thick description of authentic, situated inquiry- based pedagogies like Problem- and Project-Based Learning, as well as their poten- tial to foster connections and partnerships between industry clusters and K-12 schools. A. J. Petrosino (*) Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA e-mail: apetrosino@smu.edu M. K. Sherard · S. A. Tharayil The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA e-mail: mksherard@utmail.utexas.edu; sneha.tharayil@utexas.edu